


Minority Rules

by GStK



Category: Hyouka & Kotenbu Series
Genre: Aromanticism, F/M, One-Sided Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-11
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-17 10:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3526040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GStK/pseuds/GStK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not about what others want.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Minority Rules

**Author's Note:**

> Second-person POV.  
> Getting back into the swing of writing. A short story with familiar themes.

One lively summer and sixteen years, and this is what you know:

Most people know what they want.

You don’t.

Sports clubs. College applications. Sales and rumours whispered as you pass on by. Seven pairs of feet waiting outside your door, seven voices that raise and sigh and start a party all their own.

What most people want is life, rich and busy and never-static, to spend every second of every day wrapped up in its ceaseless tempo. Theirs is a dance that never slows down, following a rhythm that’s gone from simple to ever-complicated in just a few short years.

They’ve picked their partners, they’ve found their space. You see it in every second of every day.

And they’re the same, these people you call your friends.

Ibara twirls in place between the Manga Society and Satoshi, not unlike a spinning top stuck between a rock and a hard place. She wants to draw, she wants to see him, she… doesn’t. Years of rejection have tempered her drive. She argues, she rails, she fights, but not like she should.

The one time she tries again, Satoshi takes her dreams and shatters them for himself.

But that’s how he is. Satoshi is like a ball in a pinball machine, ricocheting everywhere and never settling. He’s all facts and no substance, a boy trying his best to be a computer. He wants everything, he wants nothing, and it paralyzes him. He smiles at half-results and thinks he is happy.

He pushes himself on people like Chitanda and calls it friendship.

But she doesn’t mind. If Chitanda is anything, she is a marble, bouncing endlessly in the same place. She appreciates everything she sees, new to every experience that a farming family just couldn’t have. She wants to satisfy her curiosity, but her curiosity is a greedy beast.

She turns to you and relies on you for everything.

But that’s fine. She stares at you with intense eyes, eyes intense as they are blank because she’s never figured out what she’s after. So you stare back and meet her gaze. Not easily. Not every time. But steadily, because you know.

Most people don’t know what they want.

You do.

* * *

Two lively summers, and this is what you know:

Nobody wants to be alone.

You do.

They cling to each other, they do. The gossip of the day is always _Yamada got a girlfriend_ or _Hana-chan and Yosuke-kun broke up_ , excited whispers that seep through the school’s cracks and flood the whole building. It’s tiring.

Dates. Flowers. Holding hands beneath the dying sunset. A pair of eyes on yours, or maybe two or four, all hoping to catch your attention and whisk you away for themselves.

And they’re the same, these people you call your friends. But you’re not.

Ibara and Satoshi. Some people might have called it inevitable, a timeless victory of woman’s stubborn wiles over man. His is a sheepish confession of _Give me time_ over static crackle and snow, and they make it. Ibara’s stubbornness is just patience turned outward, and she does not mind.

They hold hands and talk for each other and, they make it.

Chitanda is no different. Each mystery you solve and problem you unravel is one more step for her, slow and sure. The harsh spotlight of her curiosity narrows; she learns thoughtfulness, she learns what it is she really wants. She’d like to help her family, she says, once this is all over. And she looks to you and she says ―

_Won’t you come with me, Oreki-san_?

It’s you she wants. You knew it even before she knew herself. You’re sharp, but you’re not...

You accept. But you’re not the same, you know.

Everybody wants to be with someone.

You don’t.

* * *

This is what you've always known:

Almost everyone thinks things should stay the same.

You do, too.

When you find a routine, it’s natural to settle into it. The springtime of youth is all about that ― finding your niche. Most people scramble to find it before the rose-coloured days of high school are over. Nobody can really say for sure how they get there. But, you.

You’ve been carving out your spot since you were young, and you so dislike change.

But they’re not the same, these people you call your friends.

Ibara finds herself in that final year. She’s like you, but different; she doesn’t keep digging the same hole, but improves on it. Graphic design is her choice, and getting accepted to a top university is only natural. She spends an entire night celebrating with her friends: happy, cheerful, red dusting her cheeks and so alive.

If she were any smarter, she’d leave Satoshi behind.

But she doesn’t, and he remains. Satoshi is the ironic one: he finds change in not changing at all. Standing his ground has drowned out the coward in him, leaving a relaxed, easygoing boy in its wake.  _Anything_ , he says, when they ask him what he’ll do. _As long as it’s with Mayaka_. She hits his shoulder and scowls while he laughs.

It’s only later you find out: journalism.

And then there’s her. Eru. No longer a girl but a young woman, she decides to stay. University won’t teach her anything she doesn’t know of her family’s work; she’s been preparing for this her whole life. She deflects worries of _But what about your grades_ and _You could really change things_ with a small smile and a firm hand.

She’s made her choice. She’s going to stay.

But with you. Or, you with her. You’ve made a promise you intend to keep. It makes Ibara pause, and even Satoshi looks concerned – but you’ve made your choice. You’re not going to change.

Because you already have. Maybe not in the way you should, because you’ve never been able to answer Eru’s _I like you_ with one of your own. You could never say _Give me time_ , and use your flood of thoughts to suddenly sprout feelings. You probably never will.

But you’ve changed in the more important ways. She’s taken your _I can’t_ and given you her _I’m okay with that_ , and you can believe in it. You never would’ve, before.

You can laugh at Ibara like she laughs at you, not in spite or anger but in poking fun at friends. _Creepy_ , she calls it, except you can see the smile on her face. _Really_? It’s not.

You can push back at Satoshi when he pushes at you. It scares him the first time, almost costs you your friendship. But it’s _Relax already_ and _I don’t want to hear that from you, Houtarou_ and you’re fine. You really think you will be.

You can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Eru, take her _Help me_ and give her an _I will_ ; not just an _I’ll think about it_ but a real, honest answer. You can commit yourself.

You can let her call you _Houtarou_ and call her _Eru_ in turn and not have it be about love, because it's really not. It’s about trust, friendship, and having someone else you believe in. That’s all.

* * *

Three lively summers, one autumn of heartbreak, and one spring of change. Eighteen years. This is what you know:

Not everybody likes change. But you?

You can’t say you mind.


End file.
